MediaWiki

Skin:Refreshed

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This page contains documentation for Refreshed 4. For documentation for Refreshed 3 and below, please see Special:PermanentLink/3442971.
MediaWiki skins manual - category
Refreshed
Release status: stable
Description A clean, modern skin originally designed for use on Brickimedia, and now designed for all wikis
Author(s) Brickimedia (Adam Carter, George Barnick, MtMNC, ShermanTheMythran, Jack Phoenix, Drew1200, SirComputer, Seaside98, Samantha Nguyen, Lewis Cawte), MacFan4000
Latest version 4.0.7 (2023-04-03)
MediaWiki 1.39+
License GNU General Public License 2.0 or later
Download
Download skin
Git [?]:

README.md
Example
Hooks used
Hooks provided
Quarterly downloads 37 (Ranked 14th)
Public wikis using 41 (Ranked 42nd)
Public wikis using as default skin 19
Translate the Refreshed skin if it is available at translatewiki.net
Issues : Open tasks · Report a bug

Refreshed is a clean, modern skin. It was developed by the users of the Brickimedia wiki family, but it is also well suited for other wiki farms and standalone wikis. Refreshed uses responsive CSS to adapt to mobile devices, and it is fully compatible with modern smartphones and tablets.

The skin's appearance is easily and extensively customizable using CSS and LESS.

Refreshed 4.0.5 requires MediaWiki 1.35+. Previous versions of Refreshed 4 require MediaWiki 1.28+.

Install

  • Download and place the file(s) in a directory called Refreshed in your skins/ folder.
  • Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php file: 
    wfLoadSkin( 'Refreshed' );
  • If you are upgrading from Refreshed 4.x to a new version of the skin, be sure to back up your custom.less file before upgrading. Once the upgrade is complete, replace the new copy of custom.less with your old copy.
  •   Done - Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the skin is successfully installed.

Configure

Choose how to style Refreshed

Refreshed 4 is built using LESS, so you can take advantage of mixins and other features to customize the skin extensively while writing few rules.

Method 1: edit custom.less

This is the simplest method to customize Refreshed using LESS.

Refreshed includes a starter LESS file located at refreshed/styles/screen/custom.less.

Edit this file to customize the skin.

Within this file you can access skin-specific LESS mixins available at refreshed/styles/screen/mixins-public.less.

You can also import wiki-wide mixins; see Manual:Coding conventions/CSS for more information.

If you use this method, remember to back up your custom.less file before upgrading.

Method 2: edit MediaWiki:Refreshed.css

You can customize Refreshed from within your wiki's interface by editing MediaWiki:Refreshed.css.

This allows users to customize the skin without going through the site's backend.

As an added bonus, the wiki's page history provides version control for your CSS.

Unfortunately, MediaWiki does not provide a LESS content model as of version 1.34.

As a result, if you want to customize the skin through the site interface, you must use plain old CSS instead of LESS.

Method 3: use Extension:Theme

You can customize Refreshed through Extension:Theme .

Register and set up a theme for Refreshed just as you would for any other skin.

This method lets you provide multiple customized versions of Refreshed that wiki users can pick from.

Also, if you use this method, you do not have to back up Refreshed's custom.less file every time you upgrade the skin.

You can use LESS, but note that your custom LESS files will be somewhere in the Theme extension's directory while Refreshed's skin-specific mixin file mixins-public.less will still be in the Refreshed skin's directory.

Therefore, if you want to use Refreshed's mixins in your custom LESS files, you will have to @import the mixin file from the Refreshed skin's directory (perhaps with a long relative URL).

Additional customization

Logo/wordmark

Unlike many other skins, Refreshed uses a wordmark instead of a large logo.

To adjust Refreshed's wordmark/mobile icon set $wgLogos[ 'wordmark' ] and $wgLogos[ 'icon' ] per the manual. When the values in $wgLogos aren't set, or if you are using an older version of Refreshed, the below interface messages are used instead (if they are set).

  • MediaWiki:Refreshed-this-wiki-wordmark - The URL of the wordmark displayed on the "big" and "medium" layouts of the skin. This wordmark is also displayed in the sidebar of the "small" layout of the skin.
  • MediaWiki:Refreshed-this-wiki-mobile-logo - The URL of the logo displayed on the "small" layout of the skin. A graphic with no text is recommended.


  Tip for wiki admins: For optimal display on Refreshed's mobile skin, you should consider either using downscaled images or SVG images so that the logo does not display as blurry on "retina" (high PPI) mobile device screens

Wiki farm support

Refreshed was designed with wiki farms in mind.

By default, Refreshed only shows one wiki logo.

The skin can be configured to also show a dropdown with links to other wikis.

To add other links, edit MediaWiki:Refreshed-wiki-dropdown and add one line of the following form for each wiki in the farm. 

* Wiki name|logo image URL|wiki URL

The dropdown appears in the header on the "big" and "medium" layouts of the skin.

In the "small" layout, the dropdown appears in the sidebar.

The third parameter, the wiki URL, defaults to the wiki's main page but can be customized with MediaWiki:Refreshed-this-wiki-url.

Header categories and the Explore dropdown

Refreshed 3.0 and above feature "header categories".

These are customizable dropdowns in the header that contain links to wiki pages.

To modify the header categories, edit MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation and create a list similar to this: 

* Category 1
** MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation|Entry 1
** MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation|Entry 2
** MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation|Entry 3
** MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation|Entry 4
* Category 2
** MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation|Entry 1
** MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation|Entry 2
** MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation|Entry 3
** MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation|Entry 4
* Category 3
** MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation|Entry 1
** MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation|Entry 2
** MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation|Entry 3
** MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation|Entry 4

Header categories appear in the "big" and "medium" layouts of the skin.

If the window is not wide enough to fit all of the header categories, the header categories are placed inside a single dropdown titled "Explore."

(To change the name of this dropdown, edit MediaWiki:Refreshed-explore.)

In the "small" layout of the skin, the header categories appear in the sidebar.

To display the header categories in a different language, go to MediaWiki:Refreshed-navigation/de where de is the language code and create the same list in the desired language.

Advertisements

Refreshed does not contain advertisements by default, but you can configure it to show Google Ads by placing the following code in your LocalSettings.php file. 

function showRefreshedAdvert( &$footerExtra ) {
	$footerExtra = '
		<div id="advert">
			<p>' . wfMessage( 'refreshed-advert' )->escaped() . '</p>
			<script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
			<!-- Refreshed ad -->
			<ins class="adsbygoogle"
				style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"
				data-ad-client="ca-pub-9543775174763951"
				data-ad-slot="7733872730"></ins>
			<script>
				(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
			</script>
		</div>';
	return true;
}
$wgHooks['RefreshedFooter'][] = 'showRefreshedAdvert';

The values of data-ad-client and data-ad-slot should match the values that Google gave you.

To make your ads responsive across devices, add the following CSS to MediaWiki:Refreshed.css, or MediaWiki:Global-refreshed.css if you are on a wiki farm setup. This requires installing GlobalCssJs.

(As of Refreshed 4, you can also use LESS to customize how the ads display at different window sizes.) 

@media (max-width: 500px) {
	.adsbygoogle {
		width: 320px;
		height: 50px;
	}
}

@media (max-width:799px) {
	.adsbygoogle {
		width: 480px;
		height: 60px;
	}
}

@media (min-width: 800px) {
	.adsbygoogle {
		width: 728px;
		height: 90px;
	}
}

Echo

Refreshed 4 supports Echo natively.

User avatars

Extension:SocialProfile

Refreshed autodetects the presence of Extension:SocialProfile and loads users' avatars if they are enabled.

Default avatars

If SocialProfile avatars are not enabled, Refreshed displays a generic icon by your username (or by the "log in" dropdown if you are not signed in).

You can customize these generic icons by editing the following pages.

  • MediaWiki:Refreshed-icon-logged-in - The URL to a default avatar for logged-in users.
  • MediaWiki:Refreshed-icon-logged-out - The URL to a default avatar for logged-out users.

Page status indicators

Refreshed 3 and above supports Page status indicators .

By default all page status indicators are hidden on the "small" layout of the skin, but you can whitelist individual indicators with the following CSS: 

#mw-indicator-name { /* replace "name" with the indicator's "name" value */
	display: inline-block;
}

Refreshed 4

  •  
    The "big" layout (window width > 1000px)
  •  
    The "medium" layout (720px <= window width <= 1000px)
  •  
    The "small" layout (window width < 720px)
  •  
    The search bar in the "small" layout

Refreshed 3 and below

  •  
    Refreshed 3
  •  
    Refreshed 3's mobile design
  •  
    Refreshed 3's tablet design
  •  
    Refreshed's design prior to version 3.0
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